Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
The Napanee Salvation Army toasted its volunteers last week, holding a lunch at the Lions Hall to show their appreciation.
“We have a variety of people here that volunteer for a variety of special events and programs,” said Dana Henry, community and family services coordinator for the Napanee Salvation Army. “We have kettle volunteers here, we have food bank volunteers, many of our programs like food box, community gardens and the Thrift Store.”
Henry says volunteers play a vital role to the Salvation Army, which simply doesn’t have the budget to hire staff for its many programs that serve the community. That’s why they wanted to salute their helpers, and chose to do so during National Volunteer Week.
“Volunteering helps to reduce stress, combat depression, keeps you mentally stimulated and provides a sense of purpose,” said Henry while addressing the volunteers in the hall. “Just like no two stones are identical, every volunteer here is unique. We come from all walks of life. Volunteers like you guys help build our community.”
While placing a total dollar amount on the value volunteers added to the Salvation Army in 2017 is difficult to quantify, Henry says locals gave over 2,000 hours of their time to Family Services. During the annual Kettle Campaign, volunteers helped collect just under $50,000 over 1,076 volunteer hours.
“That’s 1,076 hours that we wouldn’t be able to provide,” added Henry.
Some of the money they use to fund their programs is generated through sales from the Salvation Army Thrift Store, which is operated by volunteers. Last year they provided 1,200 hours worth of volunteer labour, which when multiplied by minimum wage, worked out to $16,800 worth of service.
“Without volunteers we could not run the store or all our programs,” said Thrift Store manager Terry Howes. “Each and every one of you play a vital part in our team.”
Along with celebrating volunteers, Henry took the opportunity to announce their community gardens program had received a $3,850 grant through the Feeding Fresh Sysco Community Garden Grant from the Ontario Association of Food Banks. The money will be used to help them create more raised plant beds, purchase more tolls and build a tool shed.
Henry also mentioned they will be looking for volunteers soon as their annual spring food drive will take place May 10. They’re looking for canvassers to go door to door collecting donations. They can sign up by meeting at Morningstar Mission at 5:30 p.m. the day of the food drive.